Archive for month: July, 2012

Conventional wisdom says that Certified Legal Nurse Consultants spend more time looking at their smartphones than they do talking on them. Between email, texting, checking the calendar for appointments with attorney-clients or playing Angry Ducks, that’s certainly true. Some people are only seen with smartphone in hand and rarely misplace them. Something we do misplace however is our receipts and tickets. Personally, I have a terrible time keeping track of simple things like dry-cleaning or shoe-repair tickets, etc. Perhaps it’s because my mind is on really BIG THINGS like Tech Tips – or maybe I’m just unorganized.

Here in Houston we’re being held hostage by United Airlines. If I didn’t have the means of escaping the city by Greyhound, I’d be ready to file a claim of false imprisonment. Ever since United merged with Continental ticket prices have gone up dramatically, as much as $300 a ticket in some cases. I might not mind if I was getting an extra $300 worth of service. I’m not even talking a comfortable seat, a clean blanket or a ripe banana. I’m talking about courtesy and getting there on time and with my luggage. Instead, I’m getting the same old bad experience and paying more for it. The only certainties in the whole mess are that airfares will go up and quality of service will continue to go down.

Because I’ve never viewed complaining as a smart or productive choice, I knew I didn’t want to become like so many nurses who opted for choice #3, which is to work and complain all the way through it. Yet, thirty years ago I recognized that I just might get swept along and become one of those complaining nurses if I didn’t take control of my nursing career. Not one to be a victim, I took control, stepped out and started my legal nurse consulting business.

The great password hacking of LinkedIn is about a month behind us, but it’s time I asked my CLNC amigos – how many of you have changed your LinkedIn password? Even more important, how many Certified Legal Nurse Consultants used the same password on LinkedIn as on other sites? More of you than probably will want to admit.

No matter what business you’re in, business comes with customers and customers come with problems. I’ve heard just about every problem under the sun and sometimes my staff are quick to point out that certain customer problems are not our fault or our problem. For example, sometimes a nurse is having a technological problem because she’s not experienced with computers, doesn’t have the necessary software, or doesn’t have administrative rights to install or upgrade that software.

ICU nurses are good at a lot of things – one of which is giving orders in times of crisis. That ability has helped me feel quite at ease giving directives as the CEO of my legal nurse consulting business. I hire and prefer people who are comfortable with disagreeing with me. I do not like working with, nor does Vickie Milazzo Institute benefit from “yes” people. But once a decision is final my staff is also great at not making me repeat myself. Of course no decision is ever final until they’ve all had their say. Then it’s really final.

For some Certified Legal Nurse Consultants texting is a primary method of communication with CLNC® subcontractors, attorney-clients and friends. Myself, I’m more likely to pick up the phone and call you or send you an email than I am to text you. I think texting is a great way to communicate but when I text there’s nothing I hate more than getting involved with a “last worder.” You know what I’m talking about. Someone to whom you text “thank you” and they immediately text back “No problem.” They always have to have the last word. As you’ve probably discovered, they exist in the email world too. Short of saying “Siri, tell her to STOP IT NOW!” the only way to put an end to their relentless chain of texts and emails is to go “radio silent,” stop engaging and wait for them to text themselves out (or find another victim).

Dorene Goldstein, RNC, CLNC, of Goldstein Nurse Consultants, Inc. shares how she successfully marketed her legal nurse consulting services to an unconventional market. As you watch and listen to Dorene talk about the ups and downs of the elevator business you’ll learn how she got into one of the biggest elevator companies in the world. She’ll also share why you might not want to dance in an elevator, ever.

Every Wednesday there’s a networking group that gathers in the meeting space above our gym. Every Wednesday I see the same 12 people. Every Wednesday they have a nice breakfast, network and then head to work, just about the same time I’m finishing up my workout and heading home to rev up my own day.

Today is a good day for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants to be reading my Tech Tip in real time – because if you don’t, next Tuesday you might not be able to access the Internet. On July 9th the Federal Bureau of Investigation is going to take the drastic step of preventing computers infected with the so-called “DNS Changer” Trojan horse from accessing the Internet. Whoa dudes and dudettes! In short, on Monday July 9th, 2012 if your computer is infected with DNS Changer you won’t be able to connect to the Internet until the issue is repaired.